{"id":30846,"date":"2013-01-09T20:22:56","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T14:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=30846"},"modified":"2026-10-13T13:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:09:20","slug":"hackers-hack-disavow-links-file","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Hackers Edit Your Disavow File? How to Check and Protect It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Could a hacker quietly damage your rankings by editing your <strong>disavow file<\/strong>? In 2013 I helped a friend clean up a hacked site. The hacker had got into his email, used it to reach his hosting and Google accounts, and, besides deleting files, uploaded a disavow file listing every backlink the site had. Restoring the server would never have fixed that. We caught it in time. Here&#8217;s why it still matters in 2026 and how to check and protect your disavow file.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31279\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/shocking-hack.jpg\" alt=\"hacker edits disavow file\" width=\"425\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/shocking-hack.jpg 425w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/shocking-hack-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Open Google&#8217;s Disavow links tool (it isn&#8217;t in the Search Console menu; search for &#8220;disavow links tool&#8221;), select your property and download the current file. If you never uploaded one, it should say there&#8217;s no file. If it contains domains you didn&#8217;t add, remove the file or upload a corrected one. Then secure the Google account with 2-Step Verification and remove unknown users under Search Console &gt; Settings &gt; Users and permissions.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ae3580cd799e\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ae3580cd799e\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#What_the_disavow_file_does\" >What the disavow file does<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#How_a_hacker_can_abuse_it\" >How a hacker can abuse it<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#How_to_check_your_disavow_file\" >How to check your disavow file<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#How_to_protect_your_Search_Console_account\" >How to protect your Search Console account<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#Do_you_need_a_disavow_file_at_all\" >Do you need a disavow file at all?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#Where_is_the_disavow_tool_in_Search_Console\" >Where is the disavow tool in Search Console?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#Does_Google_notify_me_when_the_disavow_file_changes\" >Does Google notify me when the disavow file changes?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/hackers-hack-disavow-links-file\/#How_long_does_it_take_to_undo_a_bad_disavow_file\" >How long does it take to undo a bad disavow file?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_the_disavow_file_does\"><\/span>What the disavow file does<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The disavow file tells Google to ignore specific links or whole domains when assessing your site. Google says most sites never need it, because its systems already ignore most spammy links. Used wrongly, for example disavowing all your good backlinks, it can remove the benefit of links that help you rank, and Google may take weeks or months to process changes.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_a_hacker_can_abuse_it\"><\/span>How a hacker can abuse it<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Anyone with owner access to your Search Console property can upload a disavow file.<\/li>\n<li>Nothing on your server changes, so malware scans and backups won&#8217;t show it.<\/li>\n<li>Google doesn&#8217;t send an email alert when the file changes, and the tool is hidden from the main menu.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s what made our 2013 case so sneaky: the site could look fully restored while its rankings slowly drained away.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_check_your_disavow_file\"><\/span>How to check your disavow file<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to Google&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/disavow-links\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disavow links tool<\/a> while signed in to the Google account that owns the property.<\/li>\n<li>Choose your property (the tool works with URL-prefix and domain properties).<\/li>\n<li>If a file exists, download it and read it. Every line should be a domain or URL you chose to disavow.<\/li>\n<li>If it&#8217;s wrong, upload a corrected file, or remove it entirely if you don&#8217;t need one.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_protect_your_Search_Console_account\"><\/span>How to protect your Search Console account<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Turn on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2015\/11\/secure-google-email-account\/\">2-Step Verification for your Google account<\/a>, preferably with a passkey or security key.<\/li>\n<li>In Search Console, check Settings &gt; Users and permissions and remove anyone you don&#8217;t recognise; also check unverified owner tokens.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t store hosting or FTP passwords in your email. Use a password manager.<\/li>\n<li>Check the disavow file after any hack, and include it in your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/11\/find-bad-malware-links\/\">website security checks<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Do_you_need_a_disavow_file_at_all\"><\/span>Do you need a disavow file at all?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Usually not. Use it only if you have a manual action for unnatural links or you knowingly built spammy links you can&#8217;t remove. See how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/08\/confirm-manual-webspam-google-penalty\/\">check for a manual action<\/a> and when to worry about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/\">toxic backlinks<\/a>. For more free tools from Google, see our list of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2023\/01\/free-google-seo-tools\/\">free Google SEO tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Where_is_the_disavow_tool_in_Search_Console\"><\/span>Where is the disavow tool in Search Console?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It isn&#8217;t in the main menu. Open it directly from Google&#8217;s help pages or the link above.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Does_Google_notify_me_when_the_disavow_file_changes\"><\/span>Does Google notify me when the disavow file changes?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No, so check it yourself after any security incident.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_long_does_it_take_to_undo_a_bad_disavow_file\"><\/span>How long does it take to undo a bad disavow file?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Google needs to recrawl the affected links, which can take weeks or months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Could a hacker quietly damage your rankings by editing your disavow file? In 2013 I helped a friend clean up&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":31279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,41],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-30846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","category-search-engine-optimization","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30846"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65378,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30846\/revisions\/65378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}